India's first Vande Bharat Sleeper train will run on the Pune - Delhi route, per the latest reports. Its prototype was recently flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The train is likely to be launched in about three months. It will have 16 coaches, including 11 AC 3-tier coaches, 1 AC first-class coach and 4 AC 2-tier coaches. Now we hear that the second Vande Bharat Sleeper will be allotted to Southern Railway in the Mangaluru - Thiruvananthapuram route. A few months ago, it was reported that the proposed Vande Bharat sleeper routes are Kochuveli - Bengaluru and Kanyakumari - Srinagar.
Facilities in the coaches
The train, which can accelerate up to 160 kilometres per hour, boasts many modern luxuries. Meanwhile, the experiments would be conducted by speeding up the train to 180 kilometres per hour. The train has integrated reading lights on berths, magazine and mobile phone holders, and a snack table. Sturdy coaches are built in stainless steel and enhanced with Kavach, the automatic train protection system that prevents collisions. It also has special berths and toilets for differently-abled passengers. The other facilities are:
1) Odour-free toilets and vast luggage spaces.
2) The interiors are designed using Glass Fibre Reinforcement Polymer (GFRP)
3) Hot water baths in the first AC class